Global Warming and Water Resources

Syukuro Manabe
Senior Meteorologist, Princeton University

Using a climate model, this study explores the large-scale changes in water availability (i.e., river discharge and soil moisture), which could occur in response to the gradual increase in the concentrations of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere. Our result suggests that water is going to be more plentiful in those regions of the world that are already "water-rich". However, water stresses will increase significantly in "water-poor" regions and seasons that are already relatively dry. The increasing contrast between the wet and dry regions is going to yield very challenging issues that deserve our attention. Finally, the talk inquires how we can deal with the large-scale changes of water availability in the world.